This invention relates to electrical switches, particularly rocker switches.
Electronic organs conventionally employ rocker switches for selecting voices to be played by the musician. Rocker switches comprise a pivoted tab which is pressed inwardly to select or deselect a voice. Typically, the tab is pivoted at the middle so that it is pressed at one end to select the voice and at the other end to deselect the voice. Such rocker switches are ordinarily illuminated by a lamp behind the tab so that when a voice is selected the lamp turns on and when the voice is deselected the lamp turns off.
Such conventional rocker switches have a number of drawbacks. First, heat generated by the lamps is captured beneath the switches, which causes undesirably rapid deterioration of the parts. Such conventional rocker switches are also relatively complex, involving many parts, so that they require considerable effort to assemble and install. In that regard, replacement of a burnt out lamp ordinarily requires unsoldering of the rocker switch from its circuit and complete removal of the rocker switch in order to replace the lamp. In addition, the life of conventional rocker switches is limited to about 100,000 cycles, which is far less than the useful life of a typical electronic organ.
Accordingly, there is a need for improvements in the heat dissipation, ease of assembly and repair, and useful life of rocker switches, particularly those for use in electronic organs.